Assessment of blood donors' satisfaction and measures to be taken to improve quality in transfusion service establishments

Aim The article focuses on the impact of blood donors' satisfaction parameters on expressed estimate of the donation process quality. Observed parameters of satisfaction were: the state of donors before blood donation, waiting time, venipuncture pain level and staff attitude. Methods An anonymous questionnaire was given to 1000 blood donors over the period of one month. The sample included different groups of donors by gender, age and education level. Satisfaction with the process of blood donation was expressed using 5-point Likert scale. Linear regression, multifactor ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests were used for the analysis. Results Blood donors' mean estimate of blood donation process was 4.8 (SD = 0.46). No objective parameters were found to have significant impact on estimates of blood donation process, while among observed subjective parameters, such as condition before blood donation (p<0.05), venipunction pain level (p<0.01), and staff attitude (p<0.01) direct impacts were confirmed. The study also confirmed a significant impact of interaction of some of the observed parameters. Conclusion This research found that blood donors' satisfaction by the quality of donation process was rather high. The process of blood donation can be improved by paying more attention to reducing the level of venipuncture pain (for example, by additional training of phlebotomists), shortening waiting time and by paying more attention to blood donors, especially in cases of painful venipuncture or long waiting times.